May News

National Conference - Tickets now available.

Our very first AJP National Conference will be held on July 4 at the Abbotsford Convent here in Melbourne. Come and HAVE YOUR SAY about the type of Campaigns the AJP should focus on, policies of the AJP and the future direction of the party. As the party grows with membership and our political success, YOUR input is important now more than ever.

As you can see from the flyer, our keynote speaker is the Honourable Mark Pearson MP, the first representative for animals in any Australian Parliament.

Please contact Fiona or Justine: ajpconference2015@outlook.com for more information.

Policy Review - Call for Policy Reviewers and Authors

The AJP is looking for people to participate in a review of its policies. If you are interested, read on.

How Are AJP Policies Structured?

We currently have a list of 12 top level policies. The list is negotiable but we aim to keep it small with the aim of having it give a good overview of our policies to potential members or supporters.

The 12 top level policies are:

Animal Agriculture

Animal Experimentation

Animals in Entertainment

Climate Change

Companion Animals

Economy

Education

Employment

Health

International Affairs

Law and Social Justice

Wildlife Welfare

The policies underneath these top level policies can be anything people wish to contribute a policy on.

What Do I Do If I'm Interested in Helping?

Firstly, you should familiarise yourself with the AJP manifestoand charter. If you want to be on a policy team, please prepare a short statement about any special skills and interests that you think could contribute to the process. Indicate what policies you wish to work on. It can be one on the above table or something new. Your statement should be no more than half a page.

Email your statement to Geoff Russell (geoffrey.russell@gmail.com) who is coordinating the review. Making the Subject of your email "AJP Writer" will help sort who wants to do what.

If you can't spend the time to write, but want to review policies then also email Geoff but in your email Subject put "AJP Reviewer" and specify your topic interests in the body of the email.

What Happens Then?

The AJP National Policy Review Subcommittee will review all applications and form policy teams. Each team will be issued instructions on how the documents will need to be prepared. In short, the teams prepare policies. The policies get reviewed by any member wishing to review them and finally by the national AJP committee and eventually we'll all agree on a final form of words.

Victorian Committee Election

A reminder that nominations have been called for office bearers and committee members of the AJP Victoria. This is one of the ways that members and volunteers can get involved in the running of the party.

Nominations have been called for the positions of Convenor, Secretary and Treasurer, as well as 4 x General Committee Members. All seven positions are voluntary. Candidates must be current financial members of the Animal Justice Party and reside in Victoria. Nominations are due by 12noon on June 1st 2015.

For position descriptions, nomination forms or more information, please contact the returning officer, Justine Curatolo on justine.curatolo.ajp@gmail.com or 0411 494 987.

The ballot will be conducted electronically during June and will be open until the National Conference on July 4, where the candidates will present and do a Q&A with members.

Preselection and upcoming elections

The eight regional groups are tasked currently with pre-selecting 37 candidates for the lower house seats in Victoria at the next Federal election. If you are able to stand in a seat on behalf of animals, please consider getting involved with this process and 'putting up your hand'. Additionally, there will be an election conducted shortly for the pre-selection team for the upper house (Senate) seat, and they will then call for nominations for those interested in that position.

In October 2016 there will also be local council elections across Victoria. We hope to run as many candidates as possible in these elections, and get elected people as Councillors (or Mayors!) to advance the interests of animals in these districts. There is so much we can do at the local level to improve the by-laws and approach to animals, and any good practices can be promulgated across the state, council area by council area. These councillor positions are considered part-time, and are typically paid to represent that part-time commitment.

Help needed for upcoming stalls

We are always looking for new volunteers to help with AJP stalls at community markets and events.